http://ga4.org/campaign/tortoise_hare_rule

Please Protect the Western Ark Species

The Tortoise and the Hare Race Again

Write a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar today, urging him to issue decisions on the petitions to list the "Western Ark" species and restart the Endangered Species Act listing program.

 

 

We encourage you to include your own personal comments -- letters with personalized comments are much more effective when you take the time to add your own thoughts.

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 Please Protect the Western Ark Species

I urge you to issue prompt findings on the October 2008 petitions submitted to protect the Sonoran desert tortoise and the white-sided jackrabbit under the Endangered Species Act.  Under federal law, findings on those petitions were due in January.  Yet, your U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to issue any decisions on these petitions.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has also not issued decisions on other species included in WildEarth Guardians' Western Ark project, including two plants, six freshwater mussels, the Sprague's pipit, and the Jemez Mountains salamander.  All of these species are endangered or threatened and deserve to board the nation's legal ark.  

The Service found that one member of the Western Ark - the New Mexico jumping mouse - warrants protection, but is precluded by higher priority species.  But, we are seeing no new species listings that would justify the delay for the jumping mouse or any of the other Western Ark species.  The Obama administration listed a Hawaiian plant, Phyllostegia hispida, in March, but has taken no other actions to address the backlog of hundreds of candidate species awaiting protection.  What are you waiting for?

Please immediately issue decisions on the petitions to list the "Western Ark" species and restart the Endangered Species Act listing program.